Gravity
by Chandlor
Summary: Six founding families, one Beacon Hills. Since the Hale fire, the Hales ostracized the other founding families in belief they caused it. Lost & confused, Derek must choose who to trust & believe as he gets caught in the middle of the turmoil. He needs someone to be an anchor, to hold him down in times of severe distress, to be his gravity. Stiles might fit that description. AU.


Gravity – Chapter One

For eleven years, Derek Hale was lost and confused. For eleven years, he saw nothing of a possible future. Eleven years has turned him into a sour scowling teenager who wanted nothing to with anyone else but his uncle Peter and Laura, his sister. The three remaining survivors of the Hale fire have been ostracized from the rest of Beacon Hills, but they chose this. They've had enough of getting sympathy from everyone else. Derek was tired of being the lonely misfit of society that everyone judged him he was.

He wanted to help the family get back on their feet, to help Peter get back the money that they've lost in the fire. All that wealth, gone in one night; the other founding families deemed them poor because of it. Derek had a set plan: he was going to attend college at the Beacon Hills University (courtesy of the Martins), major in business management and hospitality (Peter Hale didn't laugh about the Hospitality part because really, Derek with hospitality?), and start up a new hotel business that he would run along with Laura and get the family grace back.

But that would only happen in a number of years considering that he's only now starting to get back on his feet. For now, Derek Hale is just a new assistant chef at The Beacon, one of the few remaining business that the Hales have managed to keep up and running after closing down most. It was his first day on the job. Derek was tired of moping and isolating himself from the rest of the world. Peter sent him on a one year vacation away from Beacon Hills, knowing that his nephew probably needed to get out and explore before he would come back and help him out. Derek deserved at least that.

When Derek came back the night before his day on the job, Peter didn't hesitate to make it clear how important this is for the family. And of course the expected ranting about how he conspired that the rest of the families killed the Hales in a secret cult. Derek just shook his head, telling Peter that he was just being ridiculous. Blaming someone else for the crimes of that night, Derek can't bear to hear such nonsense again. That was one of the reasons why he wanted to get away. Peter was always playing the blame game on the other founding families. He said most likely the Argents were the ones to be the cause of it. But Derek was little at the time, so he never understood his uncle's reasoning.

So there Derek was with a black apron around his waist with a little notepad and pen in both of his hands. Peter suggested he take waiting duty for the day just to see how he does. But Derek scowled at him for doing it, knowing that he didn't like anything involved with socializing, even if it's just to take orders to the kitchen.

Since college was almost around the corner for almost every young adult in Beacon Hills, including Derek, he wasn't surprised that the restaurant was crowded with teenagers and of the sort. It was loud with constant chattering. Talk filled the air with topics about classes and orientations. Some even had the course schedules and outlines to plan ahead what classes they'd be taking for the semester. He wasn't surprised as more and more kept coming in; the establishment had enough capacity to fit about a hundred people; but that meant that it would be hell for Derek and his new colleague, Boyd, who'd been working in the restaurant since the summer started.

He also wasn't surprised when a certain group of people walked in, a group that Derek kind of loathed since the fire. He hoped that he didn't have to wait on that particular group. But when he saw Boyd being busy with the other side of the restaurant, he mentally groaned and saw that he had no choice but to go over there. Derek took a deep breath and with his notepad and pen in hands, he walked towards the now occupied table at the back corner of the restaurant.

He approached with a scowl on his face that he purposely didn't try to hide. "What can I get you guys." It wasn't even a question, more of a demand, like he wanted to hurry and speed things up so he can get away from them.

"I'll have a glass of water," the strawberry blonde sassed, "and make sure it's sparkling." She leaned back against her boyfriend as his hand wrapped around her shoulders. Derek ignored the action and quickly wrote down the order.

"Lydia," the girl seated next to her said, "don't be rude."

"What, he asked for the order."

She rolled her eyes before she looked at Derek with a friendly smile. "I'll just have a grilled cheese sandwich and he's gonna get a Caesar salad, oh but easy on the croutons." She pointed to the messy-haired boy next to her who gaped.

"But I wanted a bacon-cheese burger!" He frowned.

"Nuh-uh, you need to stay in shape. You gained ten pounds this summer from all those unhealthy food you and Stiles kept snacking on."

"Hey," the other one retorted, "why do I have to be brought into the conversation? I'll have you know that Scott and I have been eating healthy foods all summer. Actually it was only for two days and then we decided that leafy greens are boring. But not when on diet. But we weren't exactly on a diet so."

"Made your point, Stiles?" the girl replied. Stiles just nodded quickly and glanced at Derek.

"I'll just have one bacon and cheese burger with no tomato, because I really don't like tomatoes. They taste disgusting to me. And also could you add in four pickles instead of three? I really don't like odd numbered things." Derek scoffed mentally. 'You're odd,' he mentally sassed as he wrote down the orders. Apparently Lydia's boyfriend didn't want anything. He just commented on how his body looked so perfect that he was afraid that eating another carb would ruin his perfect tone.

Derek, in a rush, made his way back to the kitchen to place the order. He heard loud laughter from his side of the restaurant from a particular hyperactive kid who he knew was bad at playing lacrosse. He took the apron off and headed into the bathroom, which was inconveniently located close by the table where the founding family children were situated in. After doing his business, he made sure that he thoroughly washed his hands. As he turned the faucet off, he could hear the conversations going on at the table as he stood by the door, ear pressed against the piece of metal.

"Can you believe he's back?" Jackson, he figured, said."I thought he was gonna be gone for good." It wasn't in a tone of rudeness, but a tone of bewilderment, like he wasn't expecting the Hale to ever come back.

"Yeah, I thought he was going leave B.H. for good after all that's happened to him," Scott admitted.

"Hey, lighten up guys," Stiles said. "He's been in a dark time. We've all been in dark times since the fire. Maybe he's back to start things over. I think I've heard he was applying for the university. Oh! Maybe we could all be classmates."

"He probably just went on a vacay or something," Lydia said. "I mean, if I'd been through that, I would've been gone the day after something like that happens. It must be heartbreaking to be back and have to stare at the ruins."

"Yeah, he just seemed so sad. He didn't even want to talk to anyone in high school." Allison sighed heavily.

"Maybe we should've been the ones to take him in," Stiles suggested. "I mean, he is part of the founding families. It's only natural he'd be with us."

"Don't you remember anything, Stilinski?" Jackson questioned. "His uncle Peter blamed all our families for causing it, which I know isn't true."

Derek scowled at their conversation. He didn't want to hear any more of it. He thrust the door open and rushed his way back into the kitchen where he stayed there the whole evening before it was time for closing. Unfortunately, the group stayed until that time. 'Unbelievable, don't they have their own lives to get back to?'

Boyd had bid Derek a farewell for the night since Derek volunteered to close up shop this morning. Little did he know that the group of young adults would stay behind till closing; he would've switched with Boyd but since his shift ended in the early evening and he had a date with his girlfriend, Erica, he wouldn't want to be the one to spoil his evening. Even if Derek's had already been spoiled.

Derek was wiping the counter of the bar when he noticed a figure hovering across him. He glanced a scowl at the boy.

"Hey," Stiles greeted.

Derek didn't reply. He just continued wiping the counter with the same scowl still present upon his face.

"So the gang and I were wondering if you'd like to come along with us to the Block Party this weekend. There's gonna be awesome food, lots and lots of things to do. Oh! And also there's gonna be rides and even a small rollercoaster for the kids, but then again who says it has to be for kids when it's big enough to fit people like us, right? I mean."

Derek just looked at him with a raised brow, which made Stiles shift uncomfortably. But like the bundle of joy he was, he tried to break the awkward tension. "So yeah! Just let me know if you wanna come!"

Both heard the door chimes ring as the rest of his friends walked out of the restaurant. Stiles quickly turned to face Derek as he backed away slowly to catch up with his friends. "So yeah, just let me know! It'd be cool to have you there. Bye Derek!"

Derek wanted to say something; it's not like he'd ever been invited to an event before. He never went to one because he knew there was going to be people there. And Derek wasn't much of a social butterfly. Plus what would Peter say if he told him about the invite? Oh yeah, something along the lines of "How dare they have the nerve to come to you!" or "I despise them!" or even "Do they even know you don't even like parties? Those imbeciles!"

But what Derek didn't figure was that Stiles wasn't the type to give up. Every day of the week since that Monday, he had been constantly asking Derek to come with them. He wouldn't take no (or his scowl and silence for that matter) for an answer. Stiles would hover over Derek during his work hours, trying to make conversation whenever Derek was on break since Stiles would invite himself to an empty table that Derek would always sit at. Finally on the day before the Block Party, Derek gave in.

"Alright, fine," Derek said in an annoyed tone, which didn't faze Stiles' growing grin. "Whatever."

"Awesome!" Was all Derek expected to come from Stiles. He also expected Stiles walking away to his little posse and talk about their plans for tomorrow. What he did not expected was for Stiles to hug him from behind while Derek poured coffee for another regular. This caught Derek off guard. No one else besides his sister has ever hugged him in any way. So for someone else, especially Stiles, to come and bring him into an embrace… it was alien to Derek. The feeling of another showing friendly affection was unknown to him.

Stiles pulled away from the stunned boy before he then ran back to his group of friends to discuss the agenda of tomorrow's events. Derek stood there, still. It wasn't until his customer snapped his fingers in front of his face that he realized that he almost poured an excess amount that might have spilled on the man, which would taint the image of the business. Derek didn't want that.

Derek sighed heavily throughout the day, wondering whether this was going to be a one-time thing. He knew his uncle Peter would disapprove of it but he also had a feeling that if he didn't go, Stiles would've probably gone knocking on his front door begging Peter to take him out with him and his friends (who unfortunately were not so innocent in Peter's eyes). As Derek closed the restaurant for the night, he drove back to Peter's home and plopped on his bed, waiting for the night to take him away to avoid thinking about tomorrow.

**Author's Note: **Okay, so I know this sucked, but you can't blame me for trying. I hope you guys will follow me on this journey as it's been a while since I've last written a fic. Please tell me what you think?

Also I got the inspiration of the families from the Bloodlines backdoor pilot from Supernatural and thought, why not changed it up into a Sterek fic? I can't wait to see what I unfold with you guys. Take care and please comment!


End file.
